Satcon Technology Corp. announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 27, 2008. These results reflect the sale of the company’s Electronics and Motors businesses during the quarter, which have been classified as discontinued operations.
Satcon reported revenue for the third quarter of $18.5 million, up from $17.4 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2007, and up from $13.4 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2008. For the nine months ended September 27, 2008, revenue grew 45% to $43.2 million from $29.8 million in the first nine months of 2007. Gross margin for the quarter was 18.9% compared with 12.4% in the third quarter of 2007, and 11.7% in the second quarter of 2008. For the nine months ended September 27, 2008, gross margin more than doubled to 13.6%, compared with 5.5% in the same period last year.
Net loss from continuing operations for the third quarter was approximately $1.3 million, compared with a net loss of $2.4 million for the third quarter of 2007. Third-quarter 2008 net loss included a non-cash gain related to the valuation of warrant liability of $2.0 million, a loss from discontinued operations of $1.0 million, restructuring costs of $0.5 million, and stock-based compensation of $0.7 million. Third-quarter 2008 net loss was offset by a gain on the sale of the company’s non-strategic businesses of $0.3 million. For the nine month period of 2008, net loss was $13.3 million, compared with a net loss of $9.8 million for the same period in 2007.
Net loss attributable to common shareholders was $3.0 million, or ($0.06) per share, and $16.5 million, or ($0.33) per share, for the three- and nine-month periods ending September 27, 2008, respectively. Cash and cash equivalents at September 27, 2008 were $10.5 million, compared with $9.8 million at June 28, 2008.
The company reported an ending backlog on September 27, 2008 of $39 million, compared with backlog of $30 million at June 28, 2008.
"We are very pleased with our third quarter results, which reflect the continued growth of our solar PV and fuel cell inverter business," said Steve Rhoades, President and Chief Executive Officer of Satcon. "Sales of our power conditioning systems increased 120% over the same period in 2007 highlighting the increasing global demand for our utility ready solutions. In addition, we achieved gross margin of 18.9% demonstrating the success of our strategy to improve our operational and manufacturing efficiencies."
